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ATI Radeon HD 4890 (Reference Card)

02 Apr 2009

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HWZ's Overall Rating: 8.0

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		<h2>More articles (2)</h2>
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			<a href="/feature-clash-titans-ati-radeon-hd-4890-crossfirex-vs-nvidia-geforce-gtx-295" alt="/product-ati-radeon-hd-4890-reference-card/review?review=10043">Clash of the Titans - ATI Radeon HD 4890 CrossFireX vs. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295</a>			</li>
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			<a href="/feature-back-fray-ati-radeon-hd-4890" alt="/product-ati-radeon-hd-4890-reference-card/review?review=13961">Back in the Fray - ATI Radeon HD 4890</a>			</li>
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			<h2 class="header-green">Clash of the Titans - ATI Radeon HD 4890 CrossFireX vs. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295</h2>
		<span class="byline">Article by Kenny Yeo on Saturday, 23 May 2009</span>
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		 		<h2 class="page-title">The Big One - ATI Radeon HD 4890 CrossFireX vs. NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295</h2>
		 		<h3 class="page_title">High-end Rivalry</h3>
<p>The subject of rivalries is one that intrigues the masses and stirs up the senses. And there have been some great rivalries of note in recent history. In football, we have Arsene Wenger and Alex Ferguson; in F1 racing, Michael Schumacher and Mika Hakkinen; and tennis has Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. These are but only a handful of examples. In that same breath, in the realms of graphics card, there's ATI and NVIDIA. The bitterest of enemies, the two have been 'waging war' since the demise of 3dfx.</p>
<p>Since the launch of the dual-GPU GeForce GTX 295, NVIDIA has followed up with the GeForce GTX 285 and GeForce GTX 275. Both of which are very quick cards. The GeForce GTX 285 cements NVIDIA's claim as having the fastest single GPU, whereas the GeForce GTX 275 is, on paper, the lovechild of the former and a GeForce GTX 260 Core 216, with specifications that lie between the two.</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img src="http://images.hardwarezone.com/upload/files/2010/03/083bcad2b8.jpg" title="Remember the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295? This is the fastest card we've ever tested, but can it stand up to the might of two Radeon HD 4890 cards?" alt="" /></p>
<p class="rteleft">ATI, on the other hand, has been rather quiet on the high-end front, with the Radeon HD 4890 being their only new offering. Essentially, a super-clocked Radeon HD 4870, it was also the first GPU in the world to be able to clock 1GHz at the core. They also scored another world's first by releasing the Radeon HD 4770, the world's first 40nm GPU, but that's for addressing the mid-range segment. But let's not forget ATI's formidable but rather low-key Radeon HD 4870 X2 single graphics card with dual GPUs which can still pack quite a punch but not as fast NVIDIA's top dog.</p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img src="http://images.hardwarezone.com/upload/files/2010/03/7d05de8bb6.jpg" title="To simulate the performance of a Radeon HD 4890 X2, we put these two XFX Radeon HD 4890 cards in CrossFireX. This gives us 1600 stream processors, 2GB of DDR5 memory and over 2.6 teraFLOPS of pure computing power. Is this enough to challenge the GeForce GTX 295? Read on to find out!" alt="" /></p>
<p class="rteleft">Today, we are reigniting the rivalry between the two companies by pitting their best offerings against one another. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 might be the single fastest graphics card available, but if word about an impending Radeon HD 4890 X2 is true, then ATI might still have a say in the matter. Paper specifications suggest that this could be a close fight and to simulate a Radeon HD 4890 X2, we've a pair of Radeon HD 4890 cards in CrossFireX to do battle with a GeForce GTX 295. </p>			</div>
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ATI Radeon HD 4890 (Reference Card)

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